NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Register Listed National Park Service January 8, 2014 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a). 1. Name of Property historic name Oregon and California Trail – Pacha Ruts other names/site number 14MH322 2. Location street & number Address Restricted x not for publication x city or town Bremen vicinity state Kansas code KS county Marshall code 117 zip code 66412 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this x nomination _ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property x _ meets _ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: x national statewide local SEE FILE ____________________________________ Signature of certifying official Date _____________________________________ Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. ____________________________________ Signature of commenting official Date ___________________ _________ Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 4. National Park Service Certification I, hereby, certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) ________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 1 Pacha Ruts Marshall County, Kansas Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply) (Check only one box) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing x private building(s) 0 0 buildings public - Local district 0 0 district public - State x site 2 2 site public - Federal structure 0 0 structure object 0 0 object 2 2 Total Name of related multiple property listing Number of contributing resources previously (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) listed in the National Register N/A 0 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) TRANSPORTATION/road-related AGRICULTURE/agricultural field 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) N/A foundation: N/A walls: N/A roof: N/A other: N/A 2 Pacha Ruts Marshall County, Kansas Name of Property County and State Narrative Description Summary This trail segment is located [REDACTED] south of Bremen, Marshall County in northeast Kansas.1 The nominated property [REDACTED] contains swales that were part of the St. Joe Road, an eastern branch of the Oregon and California trails’ corridor in Kansas (Figure 1). The property is situated near a drainage divide along the upper reaches of Hop Creek and consists of a native pasture on the west side of the creek (Figure 2). Included within the 33.9-acre site are two sets of six intact swales at the property’s northern and southern ends. The swales (especially those in the northern set) can be followed on the ground and have been marked by OCTA, the Oregon-California Trail Association. Between these sets of swales are two stone cairns, and a farm pond is located at the east end of the site’s boundary (Figures 3 & 4). The cairns and the farm pond are non-contributing resources to this site. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Elaboration General Landscape2 The nominated site is located within the Attenuated Drift Border division of the Dissected Till Plains section of the Central Lowland province of the Interior Plains division of North America.3 The Dissected Till Plains is a formerly glaciated northerly extension of the Osage Plains that covers all of the rest of eastern Kansas. Most of the Dissected Till Plains is taken up by a glaciated area known as the Kansas Drift Plain. The less heavily glaciated Attenuated Drift Border lies along the southern and western periphery of the Dissected Till Plains in a 25-35 mile wide strip roughly marked by the Kansas, Big Blue, and Little Blue rivers. Bedrock in the western part of the Dissected Till Plains consists of sedimentary formations of Permian age, while bedrock formations throughout the rest of the area are of Pennsylvanian age. The formations are made up of interstratified beds of limestone, shale, and sandstone, covered over by glacial deposits of varying thicknesses. Loess is also present, occurring as a thin upland mantle over most of northeastern Kansas but in thicknesses of up to a hundred feet in the bluffs along the Missouri river. The loess thins rapidly away from the river. The topography of the region is directly related to the degree of glaciation. The heavily glaciated Kansas Drift Plain has a gently undulating erosional drift-controlled surface, while the lightly glaciated Attenuated Drift Border is more rugged, with an erosional rock-controlled surface similar in most respects to that of the Osage Plains. Unlike the latter, which was never glaciated, the Attenuated Drift Border is covered by isolated patches of glacial till and outwash along with scattered boulders, cobbles, and pebbles of ice-transported materials, including quartzites, granites, and diorites brought in from locations well to the north of the state. The resultant topography is less bold than that of the Osage Plains but decidedly rougher and of greater relief than the Kansas Drift Plain. Judging from early historical accounts and soil survey data, the vegetation of northeast Kansas at the time of initial white settlement consisted almost entirely of prairie cut through by narrow ribbons of riverine forest. The natural vegetation of most of the area was tall grass prairie consisting of dense stands of big and little bluestem. The prairie was cut through by riverine forest vegetation consisting of broadleaf deciduous forests often containing dense undergrowth and many vines, occasionally interrupted by freshwater marshes. Hackberry, cottonwood, willow, and elm were the dominant forest species;4 although oak, black walnut, linden, 1 A swale is a linear depression in the ground surface, often deep enough to have sloping sides. A swale is not an individual wheel track; rather, it is a broad depression created by large numbers of animal-drawn conveyances. For the purposes of this nomination, a segment is defined as a group of two or more swales or depressions within a single nominated boundary. 2 The following three paragraphs are adapted from standard language used in reports written by Kansas State Historical Society, Cultural Resources Division, Archeology Department. 3 W.E. Schoewe, “The Geography of Kansas, Part II: Physical Geography,” Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 52, no. 3 (1949): 280, 291. 4 A.W. Kuchler, “A New Vegetation Map of Kansas,” Ecology 55, no. 3 (1974): 600-601. 3 Pacha Ruts Marshall County, Kansas Name of Property County and State sycamore, locust, hickory, pecan, and other hardwoods could also be found along with smaller forms such as Osage orange, persimmon, papaw, elderberry, serviceberry, chokecherry, and wild grape.5 Prairie vegetation covered the uplands in all but the eastern edge of the Dissected Till Plains, where forested conditions prevailed. The natural vegetation of that area consisted of medium tall multilayered broadleaf deciduous forest, with various forms of hickory and oak being the dominant species.6 The forest was most pervasive on the bluffs along the Missouri river. To the west, the forest/prairie transition was marked by a "mosaic" situation in which forests with islands of prairie gradually changed westward into prairie with islands of forest,7 and finally into prairie with little or no upland forest vegetation. Landscape of the Nominated Site The 33.9-acre site [REDACTED] is located within a rural area of Marshall County characterized by a gently undulating topography. The landscape within the nominated boundary begins at an approximate elevation of 1380 feet (420.6 meters) at the southeast corner of the site and rises to an elevation of approximately 1420 feet (432.8 meters) along the western edge. While the surrounding sections of land are mostly used for cultivated crops (along agricultural terraces which follow the natural contours), the land within the nominated site has never been cultivated (Figure